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$25,000 in incentives, about to go!

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The first home owner’s grant is $7,000 plus you can get a stamp duty concession of up to $17,990. However, there are strict rules, and the stamp duty discount ends from 1 July 2012. More details are below.

First Home Owners Grant - $7,000

First home owners can still get a $7,000 grant from the NSW Government.  The total value of the home must be $835,000 or less.

New Home Buyers – Stamp Duty discount ends from 1 July 2012

You have to exchange contracts before 1 July 2012 to get the NSW Home Builders Bonus.  You get the following exemption or discount from stamp duty if you buy a new home, off the plan or vacant land on which a new home will be built.

  • Vacant land – value not greater than $400,000 – no duty
  • Off the plan homes – value not greater than $600,000 – no duty if building not commenced, 25% discount if construction commenced
  • New homes– value not greater than $600,000 – 25% discount on duty for new homes. You have to start building within 26 weeks of the date of the contract.  This means you have to pour the slab or construct foundations –pre-construction work such as inspection, reports and surveys do not qualify.
  • Seniors New homes/Off the plan– value not greater than $600,000 – no duty if over 55 (not over 65 as previously) and you must be selling your own home.

Strict rules apply for all these schemes and you need legal, accounting, tax and financial advice before you contract to buy.

Other stamp duty changes – businesses and trusts

The NSW state government regulates the three taxes that we all seem to hate:  stamp duty, land tax and payroll tax.  A raft of changes to these taxes became law on 11 April 2012.  Of particular interest if you own a business or have a trust, is that from 1 July transfers of business assets and share transfers, except land, are stamp duty free.  This means that you will be able restructure your business without stamp duty on business assets, such as:

  • You will not have to wait 12 months to consolidate your business assets, or to transfer assets to a new unit trust
  • You can insert new companies or trusts between existing entities and their shareholders or unit holders.

This presents restructuring and asset protection opportunities with one less hurdle in the way. Of course, there are still tax and land duty barriers to consider and you need legal, tax and financial advice.


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Sources: Written by Peter McNamara, Partner of Clark McNamara Lawyers, Sydney

http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/lib/doc/factsheets/fs_fhb1b.pdf
http://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/lib/doc/factsheets/ofs_hbb1.pdf 

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